The two guys in the carriage looked at Xane in confusion.
Xane waved his hand. "Oh, you guys, continue. I just said some random stuff."
They stared at him for a few seconds and then looked at each other.
After a few seconds of silent awkwardness, they went back to talking with each other.
Not caring about them, Xane asked Zayn,
Zayn mentally nodded. [You're talking about the kid getting beaten up by two figures, right?]
Zayn sighed. [Nah, man. I thought it was your memory.]
Xane remembered the prison scene, but that was more of him recalling his past, not the actual vision.
He just looked at the carriage roof and said,
Zayn mentally nodded. After learning about the first vision from Xane, he'd also reached the same conclusion. [So if the kid was Viyron, then who were those two hazy figures?]
Now that they were out of the memory, it hit Xane as he said,
Zayn remembered those two. Now that Xane mentioned them, even he could see their figures matching the two hazy ones.
Zayn mentally sighed. [So those guys were torturing Viyron since childhood. That's messed up, man.]
Xane didn't say much.
The scene of kid Viyron getting beaten up wasn't that shocking to him.
He had seen worse. But the way they mentally tortured the little guy, making him lick their feet... That desperation to survive did hit a nerve.
Zayn sighed again, [Dude, I have no sympathy toward Viyron. But that doesn't mean I'd ever allow myself to go through that kind of torture again.]
Xane raised an eyebrow at the mention of "ever again," but just smiled.
[Simple. Now that we're in this body, it's our life. We can't let any of that bullshit happen again. It has to be the life we choose.]
Xane nodded.
[Hey, make it two worlds. One for you and one for me.]
Even though both of them cringed, they were now on the same page about how they wanted to live.
As for goals and ambitions? That could wait.
It shifted from living Viyron's life to living their own.
After making up their minds, Xane asked,
[Oh, good thing you reminded me. So, the world of Zerathia is full of different species, and many of them come together to form three big factions based on how they incorporate Nythra.]
Xane raised an eyebrow.
[Yup. Like I told you, humans fuse their essence with Nythra to form a Hex Core inside the body. That Hex Core then produces Hex Energy, which is their type of energy formed by combining Nythra and essence.]
Xane nodded.
[Good. So, the creatures of the Ashen Pact faction use this method of forming a Hex Core. In this faction, humans, elves, and dwarves are the main species that rule.]
[Yup. From what I know, there are ten big Hex Master ruling families in the Ashen Pact. Four are from the human side, three from elves, three from dwarves, and the last one is a mixed family of other species. The House of Zenaris is one of these ten families.]
Xane rubbed his chin.
Zayn paused for a bit and said, [The second faction is the Sigil Accord. These creatures form a hex tattooed on their bodies.]
[Nah, it's the same as the Hex Core. It just instead of forming an ethereal core, they use their essence on the skin to get a Hexis Tattoo. Now, I didn't read that far into the novel, so I don't know how they differ in function. Orcs and werewolves were two big species that were part of this faction.]
[That's the Crimson Dominion. These species blend Nythra into their blood alongside their essence and form Hex Blood. The top species in this faction are vampires and ogres.]
[Yup. All three of these factions are after each other's blood. From time to time, all three clash over control of the rift leading to the Cursed Land. There's also a monster faction, but it's much smaller, and most of its species are mindless beasts. That's the entire world of Zerathia for you.]
Xane took a deep breath.
Zayn answered, [It was one of those long-term novels, man. My knowledge is just from half a volume. It's too basic. I didn't even get far enough to learn all the mysteries surrounding the novel, let alone the reasons behind them.]
Xane frowned.
[Yup.]
At that moment, they felt the carriage slowing down before it finally stopped.
From the outside, they heard a loud shout. "Come out, we've reached our destination!"
Xane looked at the other two guys, and the three of them walked out one by one.
As Xane stepped out, he was confused to see the carriages had stopped in the middle of the forest.
He asked Zayn,
Zayn looked around and said, [Look to your left. That's a teleportation platform. We're likely going to teleport directly into the academy.]
At that, Xane turned to look at the massive tree stump that had hundreds of runes carved around it. He saw the academy instructor walking around the massive tree stump.
After inspecting it from all directions, the instructor jumped onto the stump and waved to them. "Come up on the stump! It's time to go to the academy!"